Various systems and methods to clean cooking equipment, such as baking pans and bakery equipment, are known in the art. The cleaning process generally requires precision to clean the pans quickly in order to minimize disruption of the production line. Many conventional pan cleaning systems, such as the pan cleaner disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,056,699 B2, use conveyors to move the pans to a cleaning station and to a storing area. However, such conventional systems typically require the conveyor to be stopped for predetermined durations of time to ensure proper cleaning of the baking equipment. Such systems and methods generally focus on either cleaning speed or cleaning quality, but not both.
Pan inverting systems have been developed in the past, such as the pan inverting apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,777. Generally, such pan inverting apparatus loads the pans, stops the production line, turns the pans upside down and moves the pan upside down to a storing space. Such pan inverting apparatus is limited by the inversion of pans and does not allow for an automated and continuous cleaning process. In addition, apparatuses of this type present a risk of breaking, losing or improperly turning pans upside during the flipping process.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved the process of cleaning pans and to provide a continuous automated pan cleaner system and process requiring no metering conveyor.